Showing posts with label BP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BP. Show all posts

Monday, January 08, 2024

Sudan: UN officials say about 25 million persons across Sudan will need humanitarian aid in 2024

More than 500,000 people have fled fighting in and around the state capital, Wad Medani, long a place of refuge for those uprooted by clashes elsewhere. Ongoing mass displacement could also fuel the rapid spread of a cholera outbreak in the state, with more than 1,800 suspected cases reported there so far.


Nearly 25 million people across Sudan will need humanitarian assistance in 2024, “the bleak reality is that intensifying hostilities are putting most of them beyond our reach,” he [UN's Griffiths] said Thursday. Deliveries across conflict lines have ground to a halt. Read more.


From Asharq Al-Awsat English
By Ali Barada Washington
Dated Saturday, 06 January 2024; 1445 AH - here is a copy in full:

UN Relief Coordinator Calls for Immediate Action to Stop War in Sudan

People displaced by the ongoing conflict in Sudan between the army and paramilitaries, queue to receive aid from a charity organisation in Gedaref on December 30, 2023. (Photo by AFP)

UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths has called on the international community, especially those whom he said have “influence” on the parties to the conflict in Sudan, to take “decisive and immediate” action to stop the fighting and safeguard humanitarian operations.


Last April, clashes erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) led by Abdulfattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces headed by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo following weeks of tension.


Griffiths said in a statement published by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Action (OCHA) that nearly nine months of war have tipped Sudan into a downward spiral that only grows more ruinous by the day.


He noted that as the “conflict spreads, human suffering is deepening, humanitarian access is shrinking, and hope is dwindling.”


Nearly 25 million people across Sudan will need humanitarian assistance in 2024, “the bleak reality is that intensifying hostilities are putting most of them beyond our reach,” he said Thursday.


- Serious threat 


He said that hostilities reached the “country’s breadbasket” in al-Jazirah State, putting more of the population “at stake.”


More than 500,000 people have fled fighting in and around the state capital, Wad Medani, long a place of refuge for those uprooted by clashes elsewhere.


Ongoing mass displacement could also fuel the rapid spread of a cholera outbreak in the state, with more than 1,800 suspected cases reported there so far.


“The same horrific abuses that have defined this war in other hotspots – Khartoum, Darfur, and Kordofan – are now being reported in Wad Medani.”


Accounts of widespread human rights violations, including sexual violence, “remind us that the parties to this conflict are still failing to uphold their commitments to protect civilians.”


Given Wad Medani’s significance as a hub for relief operations, the fighting there – and looting of humanitarian warehouses and supplies – “is a body blow to our efforts to deliver food, water, health care, and other critical aid,” Griffiths pointed out.


- Regional stability


Top UN officials reported that about 25 million persons across Sudan will need humanitarian aid in 2024. However, the intensified hostilities make it more difficult for them to reach the aid.


Deliveries across conflict lines have ground to a halt. The cross-border aid operation from Chad continues to serve as a lifeline for people in Darfur, and efforts to deliver elsewhere are increasingly under threat.


Griffiths also warned that the escalating violence in Sudan is also imperiling regional stability.


The war has unleashed the world’s largest displacement crisis, uprooting the lives of more than 7 million people, some 1.4 million of whom have crossed into neighboring countries that already host large refugee populations.


View original: 

https://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/4772561-un-relief-coordinator-calls-immediate-action-stop-war-sudan


ENDS

Sunday, January 07, 2024

Sudan: Catholic Bishops say war obstructs creation of better society, interest of the people must be put first

The bishops of the Catholic Church in Sudan and South Sudan pledged to use “different platforms” to continue engaging “the leaders of the various Sudanese parties to put the interest of the people first, in their struggle for political power.” They stressed the importance of continuing “essential support” for those affected by violence. Read more.

From Radio Dabanga 
Dated Sunday, 07 Jan 2024, 11:33 Port Sudan/Juba - here is a copy in full:

Bishops: ‘War attempts to obstruct creation of better society in Sudan

St Matthew's Catholic Cathedral in Khartoum (File photo: Petr Adam Dohnálek CC BY-SA 3.0 CZ)

The bishops of the Catholic Church in Sudan and South Sudan have called on the United Nations, the ‘Troika’ of USA, the United Kingdom, Norway, and other members of the international community, to intensify their efforts to end the ongoing violence in Sudan. The bishops expressed concern that “the protracted fighting may aim to hamper solidarity among the people of Sudan”.


The bishops of the Catholic Church in Sudan and South Sudan pledged to use “different platforms” to continue engaging “the leaders of the various Sudanese parties to put the interest of the people first, in their struggle for political power.” They stressed the importance of continuing “essential support” for those affected by violence.


The condemn all the violations taking place in Sudan and that the conflict is causing massive destruction in human lives, property, and livelihoods, “which surprised many, who never expected such a deplorable situation”.


In their collective statement to mark the New Year, the bishops also express their regret for the challenges faced by the people in Darfur and Kordofan, where villages were burned to the ground, leaving citizens without shelter or housing.


The Catholic bishops “urge the people of Sudan not to be discouraged amid the protracted conflict, but to trust in God, who transcends all suffering and gives a sense of hope,” warning that the conflict may be an attempt to obstruct solidarity among the people of Sudan: “We have a strong feeling that the series of events in Sudan is an attempt to obstruct your aspiration for a better society in which people live as brothers and sisters.”


Pope Francis has repeatedly appealed for a negotiated solution to the conflict, and during his Urbi et Orbi address on Christmas Day, he recalled the suffering of the people of Sudan and asked the international community not to forget them.


“Let us not forget the tensions and conflicts that trouble the region of the Sahel, the Horn of Africa and Sudan,” Pope Francis said.


Earlier in December, in a message to mark Christmas, Rafaat Mosad, the president of the Council of the Evangelical Community in Sudan, sent a Christmas message yesterday “to all Sudanese in and outside Sudan”, with special mention of refugees and displaced peoples.


In his message, Mosad wished “love, peace and abundant mercy” to all, wishing a good year on the anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ. He expressed his hopes that this Christmas will be the last one in which Sudan will witness war and conflict.


“We thank God for every church that celebrated Christmas within Khartoum and across Sudan despite the nation’s pain, as they eased the people and all those who suffer in the country by celebrating them.”


Christians in Sudan


During the Omar Al Bashir Islamic dictatorship (1989-2019), non-Muslims were regularly oppressed. Christian worshipers were prevented from visiting churches on Sundays, and a number of church buildings, many of them belonging to the poor Church of Sudan, were demolished. Since 2017, Christian schools were forced to follow the Muslim week from Sunday to Thursday.


One of the first decisions made by the then Transitional Military Council after the ousting of Al Bashir, concerned permission to enjoy Sunday as the official weekend recess day for Christian schools throughout Sudan.


View original:  https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/bishops-war-attempts-to-obstruct-creation-of-better-society-in-sudan

ENDS 

Friday, January 05, 2024

South Sudan: Thanks to UNHCR a new extension site in Renk opened on Jan 2 and can receive up to 30,000

THIS good news post at X/Twitter by Marie-Helene Verney says: "A major breakthrough in the struggle to help thousands fleeing #Sudan conflict. A new extension site in Renk opened today [Jan 2]: it can receive up to 30,000. Thank you to all the partners that have been working throughout the festive season to make it happen. 470,00+ have arrived to [S. Sudan] since April...
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Related 


Sudan Watch - December 16, 2023

South Sudan: IOM, UNHCR concerned about risks relocating refugees & returnees from border areas

According to the UN, more than 438,000 people have arrived in South Sudan to escape the conflict in Sudan since April, of which 365,000 South Sudanese and 71,000 refugees. More than 24,000 refugees are stuck in Renk to the refugee camps in Maban County, Upper Nile State due to the current conditions. The road from Maban to Renk has been destroyed by the rains and while UNHCR is currently working on repairs, it has been requesting that the relevant ministries, as well as the private sector, take their share of the works.

Full story: https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2023/12/south-sudan-iom-unhcr-concerned-about.html

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Sudan Watch - December 13, 2023

Sudan & South Sudan: Cholera crosses the Sudanese border and bursts into South Sudan refugee camps

At the Renk Transit Center, which has a capacity of 3,000 people, there are more than 16,000 current residents, and the roads that connect this out-of-the-way corner to the rest of the country are waterlogged by floods caused by end-of-summer rains. Renk’s risk lies in the fact that this [Vibrio cholerae] bacillus is transmitted through contact with contaminated foods and liquids, in conditions of overcrowding and lack of safe access to water and sanitation. Read more in this report.

Full story: https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2023/12/sudan-south-sudan-cholera-crosses.html

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Sudan Watch - December 10, 2023

Sudan & S. Sudan: From faculties to refugee camps: War has displaced thousands of university students

"The Renk Transit Center [in South Sudan] does not qualify as a refugee camp. It’s a settlement designed as a transit point for about 3,000 people, but Renad, Nyamiji, Nosemba and Emam have been stuck here for several months. More than 18,000 souls are crowded together, due to the incessant flow of arrivals from the neighboring country [Sudan] and the impossibility of transferring refugees to more suitable places. Seasonal rains have flooded and cut off entire roads. Here, the living conditions are dire, because everything is lacking: shelters, clean water, enough food, adequate sanitation, health and educational services". Read more.

Full story: https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2023/12/sudan-s-sudan-from-faculties-to-refugee.html

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Sudan Watch - November 18, 2023

100 returnees in Unity State head back to transit camps near South Sudan-Sudan border citing hunger

A hundred South Sudanese who recently returned from Sudan to escape violence are now returning to Sudan due to a worsening humanitarian crisis and hunger in Unity State. Residents in Unity State reported to Radio Tamazuj that the returnees are heading back to Renk and Thuongor transit camps near the South Sudan-Sudan border and the road leading to the Unity oilfield.

Full story: https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2023/11/100-returnees-in-unity-state-head-back.html

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Sudan Watch - November 15, 2023

South Sudanese head home from war-torn Sudan

Many people displaced by Sudan's conflict arrive in Renk, South Sudan, where rains have turned the dusty land into mud. 

The majority of those fleeing Sudan arrive through a border crossing near Renk in South Sudan’s Upper Nile State - where the rainy season has turned the dusty land into a muddy mess. Many of the newcomers are hungry, sick and exhausted. One in five children and more than a quarter of pregnant and breastfeeding women screened at the border are malnourished. “It was a very hard journey. We didn’t have anything; no food, no water, no shelter, nothing. It was especially bad when it rained,” says South Sudanese mother Nyanchiu Pehok, who recently arrived in Renk with her eight children.

Full story: https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2023/11/south-sudanese-head-home-from-war-torn.html

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Sudan Watch - March 22, 2020

South Sudan: a country on its knees - millions of lives at stake as ‘unity government’ announced

It’s undoubtedly a country on its knees, aptly described by one commentator as a “kleptocracy gone insolvent”, but also a place full of youthful ambition, its average age just 18. In a tarpaulin-clad clinic run by Medair on the outskirts of Renk, a market town in the north of the country, dozens of pregnant young women queue for check ups.  Since the end of 2013, conflict has cost almost 400,000 lives and left six million people, of a population of 11 million, desperately hungry

Full story: https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2020/03/south-sudan-country-on-its-knees.html

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Sudan Watch - March 21, 2020

South Sudan: UN report finds all sides of conflict guilty of starving their citizens, govt embezzled funds. Govt struggles to merge soldiers under peace deal

On Thursday, the same day the rival leaders agreed to proceed with implementing the peace deal, the UN released a new report. It finds that all sides of the conflict were guilty of starving their citizens and that the government had embezzled funds that could have gone toward humanitarian support.

Full story:  https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2020/03/south-sudan-un-report-finds-all-sides.html

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ENDS

Friday, October 09, 2009

Block 6: CPECC, a subsidiary of PetroChina's parent CNPC, wins 7 engineering and construction contracts in Sudan

Last month, China Petroleum Engineering Construction Corporation (CPECC) - a subsidiary of PetroChina's parent China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) - was awarded $260 million of engineering and construction contracts for an area known as Block 6, China’s largest oil and gas producer said on its website today.

The contracts in Sudan include the expansion of a power plant and construction of two crude oil tanks with a capacity of 50,000 cubic meters each, CNPC said.

Sudan had 5 billion barrels of proven oil reserves as of January, the fifth-biggest in Africa, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The majority of the reserves are located in the Muglad and Melut basins in the south. China is the country’s largest investor.

China’s oil consumption doubled in the last decade to 8 million barrels a day in 2008, according to BP Plc’s Statistical Review. It imported about 3.6 million barrels of oil a day last year, meeting about 45 percent of its needs.

Source: Report by Bloomberg News, Friday, October 9, 2009.  Copy:
PetroChina Parent Wins Engineering Contracts in Sudan (Update2)
China National Petroleum Corp. said it beat 13 bidders from countries including India to win seven engineering contracts in Sudan, holder of Africa’s fifth-largest crude oil reserves.

A unit of China National Petroleum was awarded $260 million of engineering and construction contracts for an area known as Block 6 in September, China’s largest oil and gas producer said on its Web site today.

China National Petroleum, the parent of Hong Kong-listed PetroChina Co., said last month it had received a $30 billion loan to fund overseas expansion as the world’s third-largest economy stepped up its hunt for energy resources overseas. China National Petroleum led the development of the first oilfield in Sudan where President Umar al-Bashir is accused by the International Criminal Court of committing war crimes in Darfur.

“Given the good bilateral ties between China and Africa, Chinese companies have the advantage with infrastructure engineering contracts,” Wang Jing, chief oil analyst with Orient Securities Ltd., said by telephone in Shanghai.

The contracts in Sudan include the expansion of a power plant and construction of two crude oil tanks with a capacity of 50,000 cubic meters each, China National Petroleum said.

Sudan had 5 billion barrels of proven oil reserves as of January, the fifth-biggest in Africa, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The majority of the reserves are located in the Muglad and Melut basins in the south. China is the country’s largest investor.

Clashes in Darfur

In western region of Darfur, clashes between pro-government forces and rebels, along with tribal fighting, banditry and disease, have killed about 300,000 people, according to United Nations estimates. The rebels took up arms against the government in 2003 accusing it of neglecting the area. The government puts the death toll at about 10,000.

China’s oil consumption doubled in the last decade to 8 million barrels a day in 2008, according to BP Plc’s Statistical Review. It imported about 3.6 million barrels of oil a day last year, meeting about 45 percent of its needs.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ying Wang in Beijing at ywang30@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 9, 2009 03:28 EDT
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Oct. 9, 2009 (Xinhua News Agency) --
CPECC wins seven EPC projects in Sudan
BEIJING, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) 锝– China Petroleum Engineering Construction Corporation (CPECC), a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), won 260-million-dollar contract for seven Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) projects located in Sudan's Oil Block 6.

The seven projects include FNE flow station, Jake flow station, CPF station expansion project, power station expansion, power grid system installation, oil well development and construction of two oil storage tanks with stockpiling capacity of 50,000 cubic meters each.

It was learnt that CPECC has started design and raw material purchasing for the EPC projects.

CPECC is a major oil and gas engineering company in Sudan. It is a full-owned subsidiary of CNPC.

CNPC is the parent company (OOTC:KIDSQ) of PetroChina (PTR.NYSE, 601857.SH).

(Source: iStockAnalyst)
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Sudan oil fields map 2008

Sudan oil fields map 2008

Graphic map of Sudan showing its oil fields and the international consortium involved. (AFP/Graphic/Anibal Maizcaceres/Sudan Watch archives 29 Oct 2008)